Targeting the self-published author

Monthly Archives: June 2015

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity” – Martin Luther King.

Hello, Dear Readers, how are you all today? I’m feeling a little ranty, so be warned. Did any of you participate in the #AskELJames Twitter yesterday? You did? You didn’t? Well, it was a rousing success. What? You’ve heard just the opposite? I know, but really, Dear Readers, what has the internet been talking about for the past 24+ hours? Here’s a hint: Not Anne Rice.

Once again, threats of physical violence are not acceptable so all those who felt the need to leave one attached to the hashtag managed to make James the object of sympathy, so think about it.

I haven’t been all that involved with the whole 50 Shades furor because I just plain hated her writing, if you want to call it writing. James has had an interesting rise to infamy. She started by writing fanfic and indeed 50 Shades is a Twilight fanfic ripoff. Not only that but she seems to have left the fanfic community on a father sour note. There are more accounts of her fanfic days out there but I’m going to borrow a page from James’ style of research and just not bother.

What has bothered a lot of people is that James seems to like to ignore, avoid, and block those who wish to engage her in a discussion of the inaccurate portrayal of BDSM, the abusive nature of Christian and Ana’s relationship and what a lot of readers define as rape. She also likes to send inappropriate messages and engage in a little jeering and belittling* with her fans. This Twitter exchange highlights a response, to a DV survivor yet. Charming.

So. When #AskELJames appeared a lot of people had a lot of questions and a lot of snark to post. Hey, it’s not like EL hasn’t done the same. S lot of posters have been saying she should have known better, that her PR people are probably looking for their next position, and that there just wasn’t any excuse for what happened to her.

What happened to her is people are still talking about a woman who can barely write her name. Do I think she got spanked? Hell no. She’s probably laughing her ass off and high-fiving whoever thought that campaign up. People are still talking and it seems to me it’s all about what happened to James and nothing about what James has done to others.

Now we come to Chuck Wendig who wrote this post about poor, beleaguered ELM James and then this post where he pouts and whines and get sympathy because what? Oh, I guess people pointing out where you totally ignored James’ behavior and the people she has attacked is more than you can handle. A more graceless, self absorbed post I have seldom seen. Not once, not once did you acknowledge any of the legitimate issues people have had with James, not once did you point out her behavior has fanned the ire of members of the BDSM community and DV survivors. No, no, you just couldn’t be bothered.

What was it, Chuck? Did you just not bother to do any research or are these people not as important as a woman on top of the best seller lists despite her inability to write a decent grocery list? Let me give you a clue, Chuck, those people read books and now I’m betting they won’t be reading you.

“Today I peeled back the Internet curtain and looked into that #AskELJames hashtag and thought, “Well, there’s some ugly stuff going on there and it’s against a woman,”” C Wendig, Online is IRL. You know, I had to reread that line a couple times before I actually figured it out, “and it’s against a woman”, so you chose to leap on your keyboard and ride to the little woman’s rescue. “To that society, women must shout back and louder, until a woman’s voice is as unremarkable as a man’s.”– Caroline Criado Perez. So the next time you decide to ride to the rescue ask yourself if you would do this for a man and if the answer is no, then shut up.

BTW, congratulations, you have gotten the STGRB’s seal of approval for your post. If that doesn’t make you realize your colossal mistakes and missteps then nothing ever will.

Dumbass.

Then there is Annie, what can I say? That isn’t profane, that is. If ever there was a menace to authors and reviewers online it is Annie, who never lets the facts get in her way. Annie has been trying ever so hard to silence those that she doesn’t like and won’t bow down to her. She’s even found herself a couple mind numbingly stupid stooges to do her dirty work so she can claim willful ignorance.

I guess it’s understandable in a way that Annie would want to rush to James’ defense, she did thank her for making erotica more acceptable and thereby making A N Roquelaure more profitable. Ever the champion of hysterical, overwrought, incendiary accusations having little to do with reality this link takes you to a solid rebuttal of her latest foray into the reality only she inhabits, and this is not the first time Annie has used inflammatory language to garner sympathy for her Holy Cause, read this. And this link points out that Annie, for all her holy fervor, doesn’t really look into the James furor, she just takes the word of someone who wants to curry favor and runs with it.

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity” – Martin Luther King.

I read this blog post and it made me go full Steaming Professional Fury.

The editor who was assigned to work on my manuscript was one of the unkindest people I have ever come across. For some reason, my story brought out the absolute worst in this lady. I don’t know what struck her core but something sure did. She did not like one thing about what she was reading. She hated the heroine, the hero, the premise of the book, and even the villain was too villainous for her. Yep. She said that. […] Nasty comments abounded which made me hate my own work that I’d been so happy to submit and have accepted by the publisher. […] A couple of examples: “You must not have worked very hard on this book as I’ve read one of your other books and it was better.”; “You must not like your…

Most of us say “Diversity in literature is really important,” and/or “I am not racist/ ableist/homophobic,” and/or “Of course, I would buy a romance novel by or about a person of color/gay or lesbian/disabled person.” But when was the last time you did?

When was the last time you bought a romance by an author, or about a character, with a different cultural, historical, or physical experience than your own? About a person with a different skin color, nationality, religion? About a gay man or lesbian or transgender person? When was the last time you bought a romance with a physically or mentally disadvantaged hero or heroine? A novel about people who live in the margins?

Crazy quilts are unique and innovative quilts created from scraps of materials. My hope is for a world that uses all the scraps, rough cut diamonds and hidden treasures. I blog to make IPOC authors and their works more accessible.